Demographic Trends in Urban Centres

o Growth in the world population, combined with the movement toward

living in urban centers, is causing a justified concern about the quality of life
in these urban centers and the life-supporting capacity of the planet
ecologically and socially.
o Therefore, an emphasis needs to be placed on the environmental concerns
within a social and economic framework, starting with the needs of the
people
o Health impacts of inadequate housing involves a variety of exposures
(physical, chemical, biological and social factors)
 RELATIONSHIP OF HOUSING AND HEALTH
 Examples of key housing-related health risks include:

respiratory and cardiovascular diseases from indoor air

pollution; illness and deaths from temperature

extremes; communicable diseases spread because of

poor living conditions, and risks of home injuries

 WHO estimates that nearly 2 million people in

developing countries die from indoor air pollution

caused by the burning of biomass and coal in leaky

and inefficient household stoves

RELATIONSHIP OF HOUSING AND HEALTH
 Inadequate ventilation is also associated with a higher

risk of airborne infectious disease transmission, including

tuberculosis, as well as the accumulation of indoor

pollutants and dampness, which are factors in the

development of allergies and asthma

 Poor housing quality and design also can exacerbate

the health impacts from exposure to temperature

extremes, which are occurring more frequently due to

climate change
WHAT ARE THE HEALTH ASPECTS OF HOUSING
 Building materials affect our health like any other material that we come into

contact with and are exposed to for a long period of time

 Some building materials are more hazardous than others

 Some materials are hazardous in their raw form while others are hazardous

when processed

 Building materials can be hazardous if they emit dust particles that human

inhale

 Eg. Asbestos has been discouraged in its use as roofing sheets due to the

dust particles that it emits over time causing asbestoses

 Even wooden materials like stud boards, insulation boards, particle boards
if one inhales these particles for a long period can develop lunge
problems

 Building materials if in the process of extracting them causes physical

fatigue can be of health concern of eg. Quarrying of stone

 The most hazardous chemical are found in the production of building

materials eg. formaldehyde, a known human carcinogen made from
PVC, implicated in dioxin formation during production, manufacture, and
disposal

 All of the petrochemical-based materials in use today share a common

legacy of emitting toxic chemicals in the process of refining the oil or gas
from which these plastics are made.
WHAT ARE THE HEALTH ASPECTS OF LOWCOST BUILDING
MATERIALS

• Chlorinated plastics, including polyvinyl chloride, emit toxic

chemicals like dioxins during the production/manufacturing process

these chemical cause cancer or alter the immune system

 Other chloride used to make chloroprene rubber or neoprene is

found in geomembranes, weather stripping, expansion joint filler,

water sealers, and other gaskets and adhesives, wire and cable

jacketing, roof membranes, and electrical connectors.

 Building materials made from metal like lead, copper, cobalt ,
mercury and zinc can toxic
 These materials are used in as stabilizers in vinyl plastic, in paints,
 Epoxy resin is the primary compound used to make epoxy paint
coatings these are known to disrupt secretion of hormones in men
 Lead is used in roofing components, mercury is found in fluorescent
tubes
 These have been linked to cancer and effects on the immune,
reproductive, nervous, and endocrine
 Chromium is used to make roofing sheets
 Lead and mercury is used in lighting fitting
 Cadmium a substance found in lead and chromium is a carcinogen
and can damage the kidney and lungs
  Demographic Trends in Urban Centres

Social
o With issues such as overcrowding, lack of resources, poverty,
unemployment, and lack of education and social services,
many social problems can evolve like crime, violence, drug
use, high school drop-out rates, and mental health problems
o Accidents and cirrhosis of the liver caused by alcohol
o Malnutrition caused by poverty
o Suicide lack of mental-health services
o Injury caused by drugs or stress
 Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres

o Communicable and non-communicable diseases are a major

challenge in urban areas of low and middle income countries.
o With the non-communicable diseases this come about as a result
of increasing life expectancy as populations move through the
epidemiologic transition
o non-communicable diseases are higher in cities than in the
countryside.
o The change of life styles has affected the health status of people
and increased the burden of non-communcable diseases like
heart attacks and strokes
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres
o The communcable diseases includes diarrhoea due to unhygienic
conditions, upper respiratory diseases; tuberculosis (TB) given air pollution
and poor ventilation in makeshift housing
o sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) with its manifestation,
HIV/AIDS
o skin and eye infections and pneumonia, parasitic diseases, malnutrition,
especially in low-income areas; and mental illness, notably in the
shantytowns
o Rapid urbanisation has major implications for transmission and
epidemiology of malaria and other water-borne diseases, notably in sub-
Saharan Africa with some of the highest rates of infection
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres
o Agents that affect the quality of the indoor environment such as indoor
pollutants (eg asbestos, carbon monoxide, radon, lead, moulds and
volatile organic chemicals)
o Cold, damp, housing design or layout (which in turn can affect
accessibility and usability of housing),
o infestation, hazardous internal structures or fixtures, noise, Factors of that
relate more to the broader social and behavioural environment such as
overcrowding, sleep deprivation, neighbourhood quality, infrastructure
deprivation (ie lack of availability and accessibility of health services,
parks,
o neighbourhood safety and social cohesion
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres
o housing allocation, lack of housing housing tenure, housing investment,
and urban planning.
o a strong association has been found between damp, mouldy housing
and an increased prevalence of respiratory conditions (particularly
asthma) and skin problems (British Medical Association, 2003).
o The respiratory conditions can be caused by allergy to mould spores and
house dust mites found in damp housing (Colloff et al., 1992).
o Damp conditions can also aggravate existing respiratory conditions such
as bronchitis and tuberculosis, viruses and bacteria, asthma, rhinitis and
alveolitis may also thrive in moist conditions
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres
o Accidents can also be caused by poor housing conditions.
o Over a third of all adult injuries take place in the home.
o About one million children aged under 15 years attend accident and
o emergency departments as a result of injury in the home,
o Domestic fires are more prevalent in areas of low income, in those
households with children living in houses of multiple occupation and, in
temporary accommodation are also at high risk of injury due to fire
o overcrowding, family income, energy efficiency, design and location of
the property may in turn influence other housing-related factors, such as,
damp, cold, noise penetration, smoking behaviour and indoor air
quality.
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres
o There is evidence to suggest that those living in houses of multiple
o occupations are four times as likely to suffer injury and twice as likely to
die in a fire as those in single dwellings
o Overcrowding has also been found to adversely affect mental health
o High density housing has been linked to social isolation, crime, reduced
privacy and fewer opportunities for safe play for children.
o Within these neighbourhoods a cycle of decline operates with
households affected by vandalism, graffiti and other forms of antisocial
Behaviour
o dwellings are affected by heavy traffic, having poorly maintained or
neglected buildings, private gardens and public space
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres

o one problem can cause another. For example, if there is a high

crime rate (a social problem) then the people living in the area may
be physically inactive (a lifestyle issue) because of the fear of
playing in the parks, going for walk, etc. caused by the high crime
rate.
o Structural defects increase the risk of an accident (such as poor
lighting, or lack of stair handrails); 45% of accidents occur in the
home and accidents are in the top 10 causes of death for all ages.
The majority of injuries to people aged 75 and older occur at home.
o
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres

o Open/green space brings direct benefits to physical and mental

health and wellbeing
o Transport in terms of enabling access from home to employment,
education, social networks and services (important to reduce
isolation and improve opportunities)
o Low levels of social integration, and loneliness, significantly increase
mortality.
o In neighbourhoods that are perceived to be less safe and/or where
there are no community facilities there are usually fewer
opportunities for integration,
o Fear of crime and harassment,
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres

o Noise from neighbours also has a negative effect.

o A lack of attention to health and health inequalities in the spatial
planning process can lead to unintended and negative
consequences.
o Planning interventions to encourage active travel such as better
walking and cycling routes, reducing car speed to improve road
safety, and improving public transport (reducing traffic)
o to reduce air pollution will reduce health inequalities.
  Challenges of diseases In Urban Centres

o sanitary accommodation and other sources of infection; space; volatile

o organic compounds; oxides of nitrogen; particulates; sulphur dioxide
and smoke; landfill gas; and pesticides.
o Overcrowding is thought to increase vulnerability to airborne infections
the majority of respiratory infections including TB, and enteric diseases
such as diarrhoea are often more frequent in overcrowded houses .
However it is difficult to tease out other
o confounding factors such as poverty, poor nutrition, mental health.
 ECONOMIC AND HEALTH ASPECTS OF LOW COST MATERIALS

 WHAT ARE THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF LOWCOST BUILDING MATERIALS

 Economics is the "study of how societies use scarce resources to produce valuable
commodities and distribute them among different people." Paul A. Samuelson,
Economics (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1948)

 Economy is the study of how people choose to use resources.

 Resources include the time and talent people have available, the land, buildings,
equipment, and other tools on hand, and the knowledge of how to combine them to
create useful products and services

 Therefore Low cost building materials allow people to make the best use of the
available resources to build

 For the building materials to be economic they have to be available in that

community
 ECONOMIC AND HEALTH ASPECTS OF HOUSING

 WHAT ARE THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF HOUSING

 A building material that is expensive to produce is not economic eg. Cement

 Cement has high cost of energy, water, machinery and labour

 Building products that have cement component are not low cost eg. Concrete

blocks however in areas where there clay is not available and the production

cost of blocks is low the concrete block can be a low cost building material

 economic building materials should be those that allow the locals to produce

with very little mechanism and energy consumption

 The reuse of existing waste materials is what makes these materials low cost eg.

cow dung, plastics, rubber, saw dust broken blocks and ceramics
 Low cost building materials allow the local community to engaged

in the production of these materials hence growth in the local

economy

 The production of building materials should create other industries in

the local community and hence growth in the local economies

 Saving in consumption of imported or scare materials

 unskilled and semi-skilled labour involved in the production of

materials

 Effective Waste utilization

 Energy efficient and Environmentally friendly building materials